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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher ~
Mike Buffington, editor • Email: Mike@mainstreetnews.com
Will Amazon become state’s welfare king?
I finally found my way last week to see a game at the
new Braves stadium in Cobb County.
The team stinks,
but the stadium is
first-class. The seats
were comfortable, the
lighting wasn’t harsh
and food was good.
And yet, sitting there
I had a difficult time
getting beyond this
thought: “The poor
taxpayers of Cobb
County got screwed!”
Indeed, the deal to
abandon the “new”
Turner Field downtown
(a field one critic
pointed out was not as
old as Miley Cyrus) and
decamp to Cobb was done in secret by that county’s
board of commissioners’ chairman. The chairman
— and eventually the entire county government —
violated all kinds of government ethics, public meeting
laws and transparency rules to do the deal for the
stadium.
The county eventually put in over $400 million (yes
million) for the stadium and infrastructure, an amount
that was never voted on by its citizens. If there was
any justice, the chairman who led that debacle was
booted out of office in the last county election.
But this wasn’t the first time a Georgia government
pissed away taxpayer money to build a stadium.
Gwinnett County spent $64 million for the Braves
Triple-A team stadium deal a few years ago, a move
that sent the county into a financial tailspin when all
the promised “new development” that was supposed
to follow didn’t happen.
And Atlanta has just finished building the new
Mercedes-Benz football stadium for the Falcons, a
move that will reportedly total over $700 million in
public subsidies. All to abandon the young 25-year-old
Georgia Dome.
This is nothing but corporate welfare and crony
capitalism for the uber-wealthy.
The Braves are owned by a multi-billion-dollar
company (Liberty Media valued at over $13 billion).
Their highest paid player, Matt Kemp, makes over $21
million per year while player Freddie Freeman makes
over $20 million. No Braves player makes less than
$500,000 per year.
The Falcons are owned by Arthur Blank, owner
of Home Depot, whose wealth is said to be over $3
billion. Quarterback Matt Ryan makes over $23 million
per year while receiver Julio Jones makes nearly $14
million.
These aren’t poor people. These are extremely
wealthy corporations that are having their businesses
heavily subsidized by taxpayers through secretive,
insider deals with local governments. (And tell me
please, why didn’t people get just as upset about that
abuse of the public trust as they are about NFL players
taking a knee during the national anthem?)
None of this is new, of course. But it’s about to get
even bigger.
Georgia leaders are getting ready to open the state’s
checkbook — read taxpayer money — in a bid to lure
Amazon’s second headquarters to Atlanta.
That project is “THE” economic development deal
of the decade and every major city in the nation
wants it. Georgia is believed to be in the running for
the project because of Georgia Tech’s engineering
programs and access to a major airport.
But to get such a large project, states will be
throwing around millions, maybe billions, of taxpayer
dollars. Amazon is promising to bring 50,000 high-
paying tech jobs to wherever it decides to locate.
That prospect has the political class salivating — what
governor doesn’t want to be remembered as the
guy who landed such a potentially game-changing
development?
But all of that is still corporate welfare. It’s taking
taxpayer money and giving it to a wealthy company in
the form of special tax breaks and subsidies.
The political/corporate class doesn’t see it that
way. The selling point for subsidizing stadiums, auto
manufacturing plants or Amazon is that in doing so,
new jobs will be created. Over time, the politicians
argue that individual taxes paid by employees and the
“multiplier effect” will generate more taxes and pay
back that initial development.
But it doesn’t always work out that way. Look at
the nation’s biggest recipient of corporate welfare,
Boeing. In 2013, the mega aerospace firm pressured
Washington State to give it a huge $8.7 billion tax
incentive to stay in the state under the threat that it
would move elsewhere if the politicians didn’t do the
deal. But after Washington caved to Boeing, the firm
turned around and laid off over 12,000 employees in
Washington.
Maybe Washington State learned a bitter lesson, but
other states and local governments, including Georgia,
continue to dole out corporate welfare. Kia Motors got
a $410 million subsidy to locate in Georgia. Shire, an
Irish pharmaceutical company, got $211 million of our
tax funds.
And that’s just the tip of the corporate welfare
iceberg in Georgia. NCR and Engineered Floors both
got over $110 million; Caterpillar got over $77 million;
Toyo Tire got $71 million; and Anthem Insurance got
$51 million. Dozens of other firms, including Coca-
Cola, Blue Bird Body, AFLAC, Mitsubishi, Pilgrim’s
Pride and a slew of real estate firms have gotten state
grants, property tax abatements or tax increment
financing from state and local governments.
But the corporate welfare dole doesn’t end with
these big, wealthy Fortune 500 firms. Georgia also
has special tax credits and incentives for the film
and television business, too. Transferable tax credits
for up to 30 percent of production costs subsidizes
the film industry in the state. It’s an effort to make
Georgia the next Hollywood. But as with professional
sports teams, those credits subsidize an entertainment
industry where million-dollar salaries are common.
For 2017, the Georgia film industry tax credits will
cost an estimated $376 million, but despite that high
amount of investment, the state has created no
mechanism to measure the overall impact. In other
words, despite handing out huge subsidies to the film
industry, Georgia hasn’t done a cost-benefit analysis to
see if the payback has been worth it.
Maybe some of these corporate welfare deals do
have a return on investment (although I have serious
doubts.) Even so, there’s something smarmy about the
state’s “conservative” political leaders ranting about
“welfare queens” and cutting back on food stamps
while at the same time, they’re handing out billions of
taxpayer dollars to wealthy corporations in the form of
subsidies, tax breaks and grants.
That’s not a free market, that’s crony capitalism. It’s
a system where the political class takes our money
and gives it away to mega-rich firms under the guise
that it’s an “investment.” (Amazon is worth $430
billion, twice as much as Wal-Mart.)
Georgia taxpayers get ready — state leaders are
poised to give millions, if not billions away to Amazon
to lure that firm’s new mega-headquarters to Atlanta.
Let’s call that for what it really is: Corporate welfare
that would make Amazon the biggest welfare king in
the state, if not the nation.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet
Newspapers. He can be reached at mike@
mainstreetnews. com.
state report
Elected officials
have a duty to serve
BY TOM CRAWFORD
On the seventh day of November, elections will be held in Atlanta
and many other cities across Georgia as voters elect such local
officials as a mayor and city council members.
That is as it should be. Municipal elections in Georgia are usually
held in odd-numbered years like this one.
But on that same day in November, there will also be special
elections held in at least nine legislative districts to elect new
members to the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives.
That is not as it should be. The Constitution of Georgia provides
that legislative elections will be held in even-numbered years; it also
states that the members of the House and Senate will be elected
“for a term of two years.”
For a growing number of lawmakers, the Constitution is something
that can be ignored. The new trend in Georgia politics is to get
elected to the legislature and then quit halfway through your term
so that you can mn for something else or get a cushy job in state
government.
That’s why we have the unprecedented spectacle of nine
legislative elections being held in November of this odd-numbered
year.
In Forsyth County’s House District 26, Geoff Duncan said
goodbye to his constituents because he decided he’d rather
campaign fulltime for the Republican nomination for lieutenant
governor.
In Atlanta’s House District 60, Keisha Waites quit so that she
could mn for chair of the Fulton County Commission. That office
is vacant because John Eaves also quit midway through his term to
run for mayor of Atlanta.
In Cobb County’s House District 42, Stacey Evans resigned so
that she could campaign fulltime for the Democratic nomination
for governor.
In DeKalb County’s House District 89, Stacey Abrams also
resigned to run fulltime for the Democratic nomination for governor.
In Clarke County’s House District 117, Regina Quick resigned after
Gov. Nathan Deal appointed her to a judgeship.
In Oconee County’s House District 119, Chuck Williams quit
because Deal appointed him head of the Georgia Forestry
Commission.
In Senate District 6, Hunter Hill resigned so that he could run
fulltime in the GOP primary for governor.
In Senate District 39, Vincent Fort quit to run for mayor of Atlanta.
The one lawmaker with a valid reason to resign his legislative
seat was Bmce Broadrick in Northwest Georgia’s House District 4.
Broadrick recently stepped down because he is dealing with some
serious medical issues, so he alone doesn’t have to apologize about
resigning early.
The other incumbents, however, have left their constituents
without representation and holding the bag to pay the costs of
holding a special elections.
In next year’s General Assembly session, each of these districts
will be represented by newcomers who won’t have time to learn
how things really work until the session is practically over. Their
constituents will be deprived of the experience and seniority that
the former incumbents had accumulated.
As an old lawmaker once remarked, “It took me my whole first
term to even figure out where the men’s room was.”
There is nothing wrong with wanting to run for higher office.
Ambition is part of every politician’s mental makeup.
But here’s the problem: each of those incumbents knew they
were running for a two-year term when they qualified to mn last
year. In each of their campaigns, the implicit promise was that they
would serve that full term if they were elected.
Clearly, most of them knew they wanted to mn for another office
in 2017 or 2018. That being the case, they should have declined to
run in 2016 if they couldn’t guarantee their constituents that they
would serve out the full term. It’s just not fair to the people who
voted for them.
I know this will never happen, but if I could pass one law, it
would be this: any incumbent officeholder who quits before their
term has expired - with exceptions for medical issues - would be
required to pay the entire cost of staging the special election to
replace them.
It typically costs $100,000 or more to hold a legislative election.
Let’s require the incumbent who leaves early to pay that amount out
of their personal funds.
That would persuade people to stick around and keep the
promises they make to their constituents.
Tom Crawford is editor of The Georgia Report, an internet news
service at gareport.com that reports on state government and
politics. He can be reached at tcrawford@sareDort. com.
The Jackson Herald
Founded 1875
Merged with The Commerce News 2017
The Official Legal Organ of Jackson County, Ga.
Herman Buffington, Publisher 1965-2005
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher & Editor
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher & Advertising Manager
Angela Gary Associate Editor Features
Alex Pace Braselton News Editor
Ron Bridgeman Reporter
Ben Munro Sports Editor
Charles Phelps Sports Reporter
Wesleigh Sagon Photographer/Features
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